Kevin Hunt: Where's Money From Pinkberry For Hartt Frat's Fundraiser?

April 15, 2013|Kevin Hunt - The Bottom Line, The Bottom Line

Music is the message for the Sigma Alpha Iota fraternity at the University of Hartford's Hartt School.

Each year, the the local chaper of the international music fraternity runs a series of smaller fundraisers leading up to the big one in March, the Benefit for Life concert at the school's Lincoln Theater. This year, the Eta Mu chapter's fundraisers benefited the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Somehow, the Pinkberry frozen-yogurt shop at Blue Back Square in West Hartford didn't get the message after Catriona Calo, a general-music-studies major at Hartt, arranged a fundraiser there early last October. The store promised 20 percent of the store's revenue for two hours that day on all sales to customers presenting the fundraiser flyer.

Four months later, Calo still hadn't seen a check.

"I have been to the store many times, made many phone calls to the store," she says, "each time with them simply taking down my name and number and saying, 'We'll call you back'."

Calo didn't know it, but her fraternity's share of sales targeted for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society was $65. That's 20 percent of a lot of Green Tea and Salted Caramel and Blood Orange frozen yogurt, but not a particularly productive fundraiser.

"It seems a bit low," says Calo, "but what do I know? It was a fun fundraiser the day of, but all the aftermath made it definitely not worth it."

Calo says she was not promised a specific amount, only the percentage of sales. A Pinkberry corporate representative, she says, requested the fraternity's tax identification number, where to send the check and a copy the flyer it planned to hand out.

"I gave her all the information she requested in a timely manner," says Calo. "A week after the fundraiser, I emailed her again asking how long it would take to receive our money. She replied that it takes about a month. A month went by, and no check."

So Calo emailed Pinkberry again. And again she was asked to provide her fraternity's name, address and tax information.

"I replied the same day with the information," she says. "I waited until after Thanksgiving to contact her again about the money, which had still yet to receive."

That's when Calo was told it would take up to six weeks, perhaps even longer, because of the holidays. In mid-December, just before her school's winter break, Calo visited the store in hopes of getting more information.

She did: The person she had been dealing with, the one overseeing Pinkberry fundraisers, was no longer working for the company. The former employee neglected to ask for a Pinkberry "check request form," which added to the delay. This was only the first of Calo's many return visits to the Pinkberry shop in search of her fundraiser funds.

"They have continually been disorganized, unhelpful and extremely vague with me every time I've contacted them about receiving my check," she says. "I am always directed to this person or that person, which has resulted in many unanswered emails and questions. No one seems to be able to help me, even four months after the fundraiser took place. . . . Ultimately, it is the Leukemia & Lymphoma society that will take a blow from Pinkberry, which is upsetting."

Calo's observations were all but confirmed by Ted Davis, recently appointed chief executive officer of Pinkberry's New England region operation. Davis, who declined to be quoted directly in an interview with The Bottom Line, cited extensive employee turnover and missteps in paying out the fundraiser proceeds.

Calo, in mid-March, visited the Blue Back Square again. This time she picked up a check, which included an additional $100 for her troubles.

"Finally," she says, "this mess is over."

The money is now headed toward the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, courtesy of the Eta Mu chapter of the fraternity at Hartt.

"The aftermath made it definitely not worth it," says Calo. "Even though they gifted us $100 for my troubles, which was a very nice gesture on their part, I wouldn't do the fundraiser again. And I probably wouldn't recommend it to anyone looking to do a fundraiser."